Tornadoes tear through South, add to US death toll

LOUISVILLE, Miss. - The storm system that unleashed a chain of deadly tornadoes in parts of the Midwest and the South is moving eastward today. Residents of Georgia and Alabama were awakened by sirens, howling wind and pounding rain.

The overall death toll from the past two days is at least 28, with 11 killed yesterday and 17 Sunday in a band of storms stretching from Oklahoma to Alabama.

On the eastern edge of the Mississippi community of Louisville, firefighters are picking through the remains of mobile homes, searching for three people unaccounted for. A tornado carved holes in the roof of a hospital, forcing the emergency room to be evacuated.

In Tupelo, in northeastern Mississippi, officials say every building in a two-block area suffered damage -- including some that lost their roofs.